Definition of Ready (DoR) Checklist
The Definition of Ready is a checklist applied during sprint planning to ensure a user story is fully understood before anyone starts coding. It prevents engineering teams from wasting time on vague requirements, missing design wireframes, unverified API dependencies, or unbounded scopes.
Plain-Language Executive Summary
The Definition of Ready is a checklist used during sprint planning to make sure a task is completely understood before anyone starts coding. It stops teams from wasting time on half-baked requirements, missing UI designs, or unresolved dependencies.
Applied during backlog grooming and sprint commitment before assigning tasks to developers.
DoR Best Practices: Good vs. Bad Examples
Anti-Pattern Practice
Assigning a vague 2-line ticket ("Fix healthcare dashboard loading") to a sprint without wireframes, acceptance criteria, or error scenarios.
Verified Standard
Refining the ticket to specify exact timeout limits, mockups, acceptance criteria, and schema changes before pulling into sprint.
Authoritative Definition of Ready Criteria (5 Items)
DOR-REQ-00010-00a0-00Clear User Persona & Business Value Statement
Story follows the standard format: "As a [persona], I want [capability] so that [clinical/business value]".
DOR-ACC-00020-00a0-00Unambiguous Acceptance Criteria (Given-When-Then)
Story defines minimum 3 testable acceptance scenarios covering standard behavior, boundary conditions, and error cases.
DOR-DES-00030-00a0-00UI/UX Wireframes & Component Specs Available
Figma mockups and responsive design states (mobile/desktop/dark mode) are linked and reviewed by engineering.
DOR-DEP-00040-00a0-00External Dependencies & APIs Identified
All upstream service APIs, database migrations, or third-party SDK dependencies are verified available and unblocked.
DOR-EST-00050-00a0-00Story Sized & Estimated by Development Team
The story has been estimated using story points and is small enough to be completed within a single sprint iteration.
Sprint Refinement & Story Acceptance Workflow
Before a story is marked "Sprint-Ready", the Product Owner and Tech Lead execute a joint review verifying:
- Persona Grounding: Story explicitly articulates clinical or user benefit.
- Given-When-Then Scenarios: Minimum 3 testable scenarios covering edge cases.
- Design Approval: Linked Figma components reflect both desktop and mobile layouts.
- Dependency Clearance: Database migrations and third-party APIs verified ready.
- Estimation Consensus: Development team consensus sizing under sprint capacity limit.
Copy this prompt into your AI coding assistant to transform rough feature ideas into sprint-ready user stories.
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